Foothold



(No Model.)

0. J. BAILEY.

4 FOOTHOLD.

No. 574,373. Patented Jan. 5, 1897.

1 .Ewenlvf: Charles Jfiaile'y,

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UNITED STATES CHARLES J. BAILEY, OF NE'WTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FOOTHOLD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 574,373, dated January 5, 1897.

Application filed July 31, 1896. Serial No. 601,182. (No model.)

T all whom it may concern;

Be it known that I, CHARLES J.-BAILEY, of Newton, county of Middlesex, State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Footholds, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like letters on the drawings representing like parts. This invention has for its object the production, as a novel article of manufacture, of a foothold or india-rubber overshoe adapted to fit the fore part of the shoe and protect the ball of the sole of the shoe over which the foothold is placed.

Prior to this time so-called footholds have been used, the same being shaped like an ordinary india-rubber shoe with part of the shank of the sole and heel cut off, leaving the rear part of the rubber as a narrow backband to extend about the back part of the shoe to be protected, the said band resting on the back or heel part of the shoe above its usual counter. A rubber having a back-band by which to retain it on the foot always leaves an open space between it and the hollow or bend in the shoe at the shank or instep, pulling, as it does, toward a straight line from the wide toe portion to the heel, and in use the back-band has a tendency to drop down on the heel and draw the inner end of the short sole of the rubber. out and away from the shank of the shoe to be protected.

My improved foothold consists in a short sole contracted in width at its inner or rear end, an upper terminating at the rear end of the inner sole and having an open mouth or place of insertion for the foot, said mouth having its rear end inclined forwardly and upwardly and provided with a strap adapted to be extended over the top of the foot and having a fastening device whereby said strap may be connected to the opposite side of the mouth, the strap being unfastened when the foothold is to be removed or to be applied to the shoe to be protected.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows a foothold madein accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a section in the line 00.

The foothold has a short sole a and an upper 19, the sole being only long enough to extend from the toe to the shank of the shoe over which the foothold is to be worn. The upper l) is carried from the toe of the sole backwardly nearly to the inner or rear end thereof, and is then carried entirely about the rear end of the sole, forming a part c, the edge 0' of which is inclined upwardly and forwardly, the part c presenting at the end of the sole an inclined part 0 This part 0, so extended about the rear end of the sole and having its inclined part 0 and edge 0, constitutes what I shall designate in the claims as the neck. This upwardly-inclined portion e is provided with an extension or free-ended strap 0 which is provided to cross the top of the foot in front of the ankle in substantially the line of shortest distance about the foot, the free end of said strap being provided with a suitable fastening, as with a socket d, the other part of the fastening d (see Fig. 2) being a split ball, both constituting a ball-and-socket fas-- tening device.

The foothold having been applied to the front part or ball of the shoe over which it is to be worn, the strap will be fastened in place diagonally over the top of the foot, and to remove the foothold the strap will be unfastened.

In my novel foothold there is no back band to embrace the heel of the shoe, the foothold being kept in place by contraction of the neck at the inner extremity of the upper and by the top strap. The upwardly-extended part 0 of the neck 0, forming the rear end of the upper at and about the small or contracted rear end of the sole, extends upwardly and somewhat backwardly into the shank from the rear end of the said sole, and as the strap is drawn upon to fasten it about the foot the said neck is thereby made to fit the shank of the sole of the shoe on which the foothold is placed and to hug the upper of the shoe above the shoe-shank, completely preventing the passage of dust, mud, or water onto the forepart of the upper or sole of the shoe to be pro* tected by the foothold, and because of the fact that the fastening-band passes around the foot, as shown, cooperating in direct line with the contracted rear end of the foothold, the latter gathering in and fitting snugly about the more narrow instep portion of the foot, it results that there is no possibility of the footcontrary it tends to become fitted more tightly and snugly by the process of walking; also in my preferred construction the sole a is given an extreme normal curvature, as shown in Fig. 1, that is to than the curvature of the sole of the ordinar 1 shoe from the toe to the inner end thereof, with which the foothold is to be worn, the purpose of this curvature being to cause the tension of the sides, when the rubber is placed on the foot, to lift or hold the rear edge e pressed firmly and tightly against the shoe.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an article of manufacture, a foothold, composed of a short sole, and sides, said sides being carried about the rear end of the sole and shaped to present a neck which terminates the upper at the rear end of said sole, said neck having its free, rear edge, inclined forwardly and upwardly and provided with an attached strap adapted to be extended over the top of the foot, said strap having a suitable fastening device whereby it may be connected to the opposite side of the neck, the strap being unfastened when the foothold is to be removed or to be applied to the shoe to be protected, substantially as described.

52. As an article of manufacture, a foothold composed of a short sole contracted atits rear say, a curvature greater end, and an upper connected thereto, a portion of the said upper being extended about the rear end of the said sole to constitute a neck which terminates the upper, said neck having its edge shaped to bear against the sole and upper of the shank of the shoe to be protected, and having a strap forwardly extended therefrom and provided with a fastening by which to secure it about the top of the foot in front of the ankle, the strain of said strap when fastened drawing and fitting the edge of said neck snugly about the shank and instep of the shoe and retaining the foothold snugly in place, substantially as described.

3. As an article of manufacture, a foothold, composed of a short sole, an upper terminating substantially at the rear end of said sole, and a top strap connecting tlierear upper edges of said upper, said sole being given a normal longitudinal curvature in excess of the curvature of the sole of the shoe with which it is to be worn, substantially as described.

In tcstimon y whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES J. BAILEY. lVitn esses:

GEO. W. GREGORY, LAURA S. MANIX. 

